Beware of the Dream Killers

Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a wonderful week so far. My birthday was Tuesday! By the grace of God, I am now 24! I had a wonderful day filled with food, love, laughter and great friends.
 
Now last week was filled with lessons that I will never forget. It was also just what I needed to remind myself that God is working behind the scenes! He is opening doors that I can’t see yet with my physical eyes, but with my spiritual eyes. Let me tell you why…
 
 If you’ve been keeping up with my blog posts, you know I’ve talked about waiting for God to answer some prayers that I’ve been praying about for years. Majority of these prayers involve my career. I graduated in December 2018 with a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications and still haven’t found a full-time job. However, I do have two-part time jobs so for that I am very grateful for. Of course though I’m still believing in God to open doors for me to become a full-time entertainment reporter.
 
While I’m waiting, God has blessed me to host minor league baseball and other events around the Tampa Bay community. Even though I know I’m not where I would like to be right now, I know for sure God is working things out for my favor. I have gotten discouraged on several occasions, but God reminds me in unique ways that He has me. There will be a harvest I will reap very soon.
 
Feeling confident after a couple of weeks of the enemy trying to make me sad, I had an awkward encounter. I had posted my entertainment reel on a Facebook group for up and coming journalists, reporters, producers and directors to see if anyone on there had a job opening. Not only are there people in the group new to the news industry, but there are people who have been in the business for years that post about jobs. Once I posted the reel, I had a man comment on the post and told me to send him the reel. So I did so eagerly. I had read his bio and saw that he was a part of the news industry. In my head I’m thinking, “he may have a job so let me send this now!”
 
Y’all.
 
This man responded to me and in so many words basically told me that no one would take me serious in the news industry because of my reel being full of stand ups and entertainment. There was a lot more that I don’t even want to get into, but the message really made me laugh. He said, “if you were to get hired, it would be the grace of God.”
 
Not going to lie. For a second, the messages made me want to cry. Here I was thinking someone was going to be positive or share some encouraging words, but no it was the opposite. I am all for constructive criticism. It may be hard for me to swallow sometimes at first, but I’m appreciative for it. However, there’s a big difference between giving someone constructive criticism and being disrespectful. How could I tell the difference on this particular day? My spirit was not at peace. Typically when I receive advice from people who have been in the game longer than I have, even if I’m a little sad after, my spirit is still at peace with it. But not this time. I was completely disturbed. The message may have been right but the delivery was all wrong. What made it worse was that this person was also African-American like myself.
 
I was in my feelings a little because the words were hurtful and I’m human . Then I quickly got myself together because I had to remember what God told me! I had to remember the promises made to me!  What’s funny was that the day prior, I had just said to myself that many successful people have had someone tell them they wouldn’t make it, but thankfully no one has ever told me that. Then BOOM! Wow that’s wild. He even went on the group page and continued to talk about how entertainer reporters won’t get taken seriously. I knew it was directed towards me. My reel post was right underneath his so anyone could see he was talking about me.
 
What blew me was when the man said if I were to get a job it would be by the grace of God. Let me tell you all something. He challenged God as if my God doesn’t move mountains and break chains! Who sir are you to tell me something different from what God has already told me? His words just confirmed to me what I already knew.
 
When God does something, He does it in such a way where NO ONE will get the credit for your blessing but HIM! Everyone around you will be trying to figure out how you got to the next level. When other people discourage or discredit your dreams, allow that to motivate you! Trust me, I know that it may be easier said than done, but you can’t allow anyone to throw you off course. You can’t allow anyone, especially someone you don’t know, to get you unfocused. I thanked the man for his time and kept on pushing.
 
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
 Believe that.
 Don’t feed into the negativity. Keep your eyes focused on God and he will steer you into the right direction.
 Love,
Tyrah